Christmas A La Mode
by Mistress Noin
Summary: Christmas on Mars: Tired and hungry, Zechs and Noin treat themselves to some Christmas sweets. Pointless little story I wrote out of boredom; fluff, 6x9.


Disclaimer [a la Star Wars intro]: A long time ago, in a fantasyland far, far away, there was a fangirl named Mistress Noin.  She owned this wonderful show called Gundam Wing, as well as the incredibly sexy Zechs Merquise.  It was a happy place and all was well in the world.  Unfortunately, the evil Darth Reality came and robbed her of her precious Gundam Wing.  She tried to flee with Zechs, but alas…Reality triumphed and Mistress Noin was forced to part with him.  Now she owns nothing but the series on DVD, an artbook, and this insanely cute chibi Milliardo pin.  _Are you satisfied?!_ *breaks down sobbing*

Oookay, so that was a little…weird.  *cough* But you get the idea…GW belongs to a few lucky Japanese people.  This fic is purely for entertainment, I'm making no money off of this, yadda, yadda, yadda.  

Um, not quite an author's note as much as it is a warning.  Don't expect anything from this fic except ridiculous amounts of sap, stolen apple pie a la mode, and a couple of laughs.  I wrote this little piece purely for my own amusement.  And since I love you all sooooo much *cheesy grin*, I thought I'd share.  Since it is now officially the Christmas season, consider it my Christmas gift.  ; Þ  Unless you don't do Christmas…then consider it my…I'm-sorry-for-having-such-a-pain-in-the-ass-case-of-writer's-block gift.  Unless you're not reading If Only To Be With You…then consider it…well, just a lame little fic…Oi, just read it.

Christmas A La Mode

            Zechs Merquise collapsed into his chair, staring at the plate before him as though he hadn't eaten for days.  He was still in his work clothes but far too hungry to care that his gray jumpsuit was covered with oil stains and red dust.

Red.  Zechs had never really liked the color.  He had worn it during his time with OZ, but the choice of garments hadn't really been up to him.  Now he was living on a planet that was nothing but red.  It was a minor detail, though; the rest of this new experience more than made up for it.  There was nothing he wanted to do more than start all over again on a brand new world.  Finally, his past was behind him.  Rid of all the torment, hate, and guilt that had plagued most of his life, he could start off with a clean slate.  For the first time, he felt like a young man with the rest of his life ahead of him.  

And it pleased him to no end to know that he was starting this new life with Lucrezia Noin.  

He watched her from across the table where they sat, sharing dinner in the empty cafeteria.  They had been out finishing off repairs to the electrical compound for most the day.  Zechs was the only one that didn't mind doing it on Christmas.  He had told Noin to stay behind, have dinner, and enjoy herself.  But she had, in her typical fashion, insisted on coming along.  He had smiled inwardly, knowing exactly what she would say, and loving her more for it.  By the time they got finally in, dinner was over.  The cook had told them that he had saved them food, but it looked more like they had been left scraps.  She looked up, eyeing him curiously.  "Zechs?  Are you okay?  Do I have mashed potatoes on my face or something?"

He smiled a little, though he was still not quite used to doing it.  "No Noin, I was just thinking."

"I see.  Well don't space out completely.  We've got to be at the main compound in a half hour."

Zechs grunted in response.  The rest of the crew was planning on celebrating Christmas that evening.  They were lacking a tree, gifts, and eggnog, but none of them cared.  Zechs was rather adverse to the whole idea.  He'd never bothered with holidays before and didn't see why he should start now.  Noin, however, had insisted they attend.  It would look ridiculous if they were the only two that didn't show up, she reasoned.  He had smiled when she included herself with him.  

"You said you'd go."

"I know.  I'm still going.  I'm just making it perfectly clear that I don't _want_ to go."

Noin rolled her eyes.  "Whatever."

"So does that make this Christmas dinner?"  He looked down at the leathery meatloaf, dried out mashed potatoes and sickly green beans.  Noin followed suit, poking at the vegetables glumly as she felt her appetite dissipating.  

"I guess it does."  Frowning, she pushed the plate aside, glaring at Zechs.  "Damn, and I was hungry, too."

"Sorry."  After a moment, "there's apple pie in the freezer."

She looked up at him.  "_Real_ apple pie?"

He nodded.  "The last of it.  The cook's hoarding it for god knows what."

"You know he'll be pissed when he finds out," she said, a grin spreading slowly across her face

Zechs shrugged.  "Yeah."

"Alright, but you're taking the blame if we get caught."

The two stealthily made their way to the dark kitchen, feeling much like small children sneaking around past bedtime.  Noin stood at the entrance to the kitchen, propping the swinging door open with her foot while clutching tightly to two bowls, two spoons, and napkins.  "Okay, I've got you covered, Zechs.  Hurry up."

The former Lightning Baron flew into the kitchen, swiftly swiping the pink pastry box out of the large commercial freezer.  He paused a moment, watching as Noin was motioning for him to get moving.  He quickly made up his mind and then reached for the almost empty bucket of vanilla ice cream, throwing the freezer door shut afterward.  Noin had to stifle a laugh as he snuck back toward her.  They left the kitchen and Noin went to the cafeteria door, peering out cautiously into the empty maze of hallways on the other side.  

"Now what?" she asked.

Zechs thought for a moment.  He stiffened as he heard voices coming from the south entrance to the cafeteria.  All possible escape routes and hideouts ran through his head quickly.  There weren't very many places they could go to in that particular sector of the building.  The voices were getting closer and they could make out the gruff voice of the cook ranting about not having any liquor around.  

"Zechs…"

"The auxiliary control room.  No one ever goes there."  He took Noin by the wrist and whisked her out of the cafeteria.

"Yeah, unless all the power goes out," she retorted as he led her through the monotonous, gray corridors.  

He shoved her in first and then ducked inside, shutting and locking the door.  "Hush." 

The room was large, but not spacey; there were power generators and computers taking up most of the floor space.  The pair settled down in the middle of the floor, opening up their stolen treats.  Noin watched as Zechs heaped an obscene amount of ice cream onto his pie, mashing and mixing it into a disgustingly gooey concoction.  "God Zechs, that's indecent."

He let out a soft chuckle.  "Come on, Noin.  Live a little," he said as he dug in.

She picked up her spoon and grabbed the pie box, ignoring him.  She began to carefully cut a slice of pie using her spoon.  Zechs stopped eating for a moment, watching the intense look on her face.  He smiled softly as she bit her lower lip in concentration, marveling at how childlike she looked right then.  He suddenly felt the need to hold her in his arms.  Shaking his head, he suppressed the thought.  This was Noin, his best friend.  But he loved her, and he knew that she loved him.  The thought of them being together still rendered him numb.  What he was so afraid of, he didn't know.  How odd, and unsettling, that he had conquered so many fears before, in war and within himself but couldn't get past the fear of a personal relationship.  It was one of the many things he had denied himself for so long in the past, and now he was having more than a hard time trying to change that.  

Noin looked up to see Zechs gazing at her pensively.  A blush crossed her face as she met his eyes.  "Zechs?"

He blinked, coming out of his daze.  "Sorry," he said, looking back at her.  "I was just…"

"Thinking?"

He smiled.  "You have a piece of crust…" he trailed off as he reached out to brush a bit of piecrust off her chin.  The flush on her cheeks only deepened.  

"Is that what had you so preoccupied?" she asked jokingly, trying to play off the tense moment.  She was rewarded with a small smile from Zechs.  He returned his attention to his food, swirling the melting mixture around.  

"This is really good," he commented idly.  "Better than the shoe leather and Styrofoam potatoes anyway."

"Definitely," Noin said through a mouthful of ice cream.  "I feel like a little kid," she added.

"Mmm, we forgot milk," Zechs mumbled, beginning to feel ill.  He set aside his bowl, reclining against the side of a work desk.  Feeling a little too gluttonous herself, Noin piled their dirty dishes and put them aside, taking care to place the last of the melting ice cream far from any electrical equipment, then sat beside Zechs, sighing.  

"Yeah, could've used the milk.  But we only have powered and you hate that stuff."

"You're right.  Forget the milk.  Besides, then we'd get those mustaches."

She laughed, looking over at him.  "Actually," she began.  "You have an ice cream mustache."  Grabbing a napkin, she reached up and wiped at upper lip softly.  He looked down at her, surprised.  She met his eyes squarely for one excruciatingly long moment.  Not quite sure what possessed her to do what she did, Noin snatched her hand away.  Zechs grabbed at her hand before she could fully retreat and held it firmly.  Still trying to escape, she turned away.  That ended up not working either, as Zechs took her chin in his other hand and forced her to look back at him.  

"Thanks," he whispered.  Before she could muster any sort of reply, he let her go and leaned back again, closing his eyes and sighing.  Shakily, she did the same, looking as far away from him as she could without being obvious.  

"Merry Christmas, Noin."

"Merry Christmas, Zechs."   She turned to face him and found his face within inches of hers.  

The space between them was closing fast.  Noin let her eyes flutter shut as Zechs' lips came just before hers and then…the power went out.  The pair sat in complete darkness for a few seconds until the secondary power systems activated the emergency lights.  Noin sighed.

"Now Zechs…what were you saying about no one ever coming in here?"

In the semi-darkness, she could see him scowling.  "Who cares what I said, let's get the hell out of here."

*

As the electrical crew made their way to the auxiliary power room, they swore they could heard a woman's laughter echoing from somewhere farther up the hall.  Dismissing it, they entered the room.

"…Is that apple pie a la mode?"

The End.

Author's Notes/Comments/Rants: Well, that was…I don't know.  I was just bored, and insanely stuck on If Only To Be With You.  I just got this whack picture of Zechs and Noin eating ice cream, so…ta da!  I wrote this the week before Thanksgiving, but didn't get a chance to upload it.  Can you believe I actually volunteered to work this four-day weekend?  It wasn't fun.  But yeah…Merry Wintertime!


End file.
